Monthly Archives: January 2010

Fondly remebered in the former Soviet Union as a ‘peoples’ car’ the ЗАЗ-966 was produced from 1966-1974 in Soviet Ukraine at Запорізький автомобілебудівельний завод(Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant).

Closely resembling the Hillman Imp and the NSU Prinz 4, the rear mounted engine gave rise to many jokes:

The factory that produces Zaporozhets has started to produce Televisions. The TV’s are fine, work like normal ones, but the screens are at the back…

Sylvia Telles (1934 – 1966) made her recording debut in 1957- a record that featured Antonio Carlos Jobim as arranger and conductor on two tracks. Sylvia would later record a great number of Jobim compositions.She appeared at Faculdade de Arquitetura (May 21st 1960), which was the first Bossa Nova festival. This is another early example of the marriage of Bossa Nova to US jazz, featuring the great Barney Kessel on guitar and Calvin Jackson on piano.

Sylvia Telles tragically died in a car crash in December 1966, aged just 32.

Before I am accused of old-school chauvinism I should point out that this is taken directly from the cover of the book, which was published in 1967:

Miniskirts and the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and now the Birds. That means girls–feathery and soft, swinging and defiantly independent…Who is the London girl? John d Green and his associates went through the agonies of choice, and here are fifty-five, not one of which is the typical girl. The beauty of this incandescent maelstrom is that each bird is pretty in her own individual way…Julie Christie, Susannah York, Dusty Springfield, ‘Charley’ Rampling, Marianne Faithful…Many represent the bewildering and fast-changing world of media: films, records, fashion photography, television, and theatre…

The second in our series was an actual real life cowboy, Mr Clarence Hailey Long, Jr (1910-1978). C.H. Long tasted fame in 1949, when LIFE magazine published a series of Leonard McCombe photographs on ranching in the American West.The series inspired the folks at Philip Morris & Co., who were looking for a new image for their Marlboro cigarettes, originally intrioduced in 1924 as a womens’ brand. The masculine image of the ruggedly handsome cowboy was seen as being the ideal way to appeal to male smokers.In 1955 Mr. Long was offered a $20,000 annual contract to advertise beer. He gained the admiration of his friends in the Baptist Church by declining the deal.It is worth noting that Mr Long, like most cowboys, smoked hand rolled cigarettes.

In August 1960 FIFA awarded the 1966 World Cup to England to celebrate the centenary of the standardisation of football (the Football Association celebrated it’s centenary in 1963).It was to be a tournament steeped in controversy. João Havelange (FIFA president 1974–1998) has famously claimed that the outcome of both this and the 1974 tournament were arranged to favour the hosts, citing mutually favourable decisions by European officials against South American teams.Let’s look at some of the controversies:Pele was already injured before Brazil’s crucial match with Portugal, but English referee George McCabe allowed Morais’ coup de grace assault to go unpunished.In the quarter-finals West Germany beat Uruguay 4–0 after the referee (Jim Finney, of England) ignored a German goal line handball and then sent off two Uruguayans.More notorious was the quarter-final referred to in Argentina as el robo del siglo (the steal of the century) which England won 1-0 thanks to an offside goal. In the 35th minute, angered by the way in which the game was being handled, Argentina captain Antonio Rattín approached the referee (Rudolf Kreitlein of Germany). Rattin spoke no German, Herr Kreitlin no Spanish. Rattin indicated his captain’s armband and tried to ask for an interpreter so that his grievances could be made clear.Herr Kreitlin ordered him from the pitch. British newspapers cited ‘violence of the tongue’ as the reason for dismissal, although the referee reportedly said that he didn’t like how Rattín had looked at him. An incensed Rattin was escorted from the pitch by police . The most famous controversy was to come in the England v West Germany final. At 2-2 in the first period of extra time referee Gottfried Dienst of Switzerland awarded a controversial goal to England following consultation with his Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov.When later asked how he could be sure that the ball had crossed the line, Bakhramov replied ‘Stalingrad’. England’s fourth goal was also controversial in that spectators had come onto the pitch.Surprise package of the tournament were North Korea, who led Portugal 3-0 in the quarter finals before the outstanding player of the tournament, Eusebio, rescued the Portuguese. Controversy aside, Geoff Hurst recorded the only ever hat trick in a final, and workmanlike England boasted truly world class players in Gordon Banks , captain Bobby Moore and the dynamic Bobby Charlton.

If the disposition of the people that I have met from the Philippines is anything to go by it must be a wonderful country.We know the Philippines has produced probably the greatest boxer of the modern era in Manny Pacquiao and possibly the greatest billiards player ever in Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes- The Magician.But Bossa Nova?Here’s lovely Pinay singer, Sitti.Maybe not pure Bossa, she does lots of pop covers, but nice and fresh and not the worst way to include a Philippines artiste in your record collection…Her work is readily available- so just as a taster I’ve put together 10 songs- 9 well known Bossa Tunes and a song from Bacharach and David.

That the 1962 tournament was staged at all is something close to a miracle- in May 1960, as the preparations were well under way, Chile suffered the largest earthquake ever recorded (9.5 magnitude).The president of the Organization Committee, Carlos Dittborn, coined the phrase Because we don’t have anything, we will do everything in our power to rebuild, and the preparations were completed flawlessly on schedule.The fact that two Italian journalists, Antonio Ghiredelli and Corrado Pizzinelli, had (apparently) spent weeks labeling Santiago a poverty-stricken dump full of loose women set the tone for the Chile vs Italy game, which became known as The Battle of Santiago. Ref Ken Aston fanned the flames by turning a blind eye to the indiscretions of the hosts- but when Italy’s Giorgio Ferrini was dismissed he had to be removed from the pitch by the police!The Soviet Union’s Lev Yashin had a difficult tournament- he suffered concussion on two occasions. Marcos Coll of Columbia scored the only Olympic Goal in a World Cup against him in a 4: 4 draw, and then Yashin was held culpable as the hosts beat the Soviet team in the quarter finals. On this occasion Yashin’s embarrassment was compounded when Eladio Rojas, overwhelmed at having scored past the world’s best, could not restrain himself from embracing the Soviet keeper.Another curious incident involving the Soviet team came in their game against Uruguay, when Igor Netto advised the referee that an apparent goal by his team mate Chislenko had in fact entered via the side netting. (Thierry Henry? Maradona?)For the eventual champions Brazil Pele’s contribution was brief, as he was injured early in their second game (against Czechoslovakia). Fortunately for Brazil Garrincha was in the best form of his life, prompting the now famous headline in the El Mercurio newspaper:

¿De qué planeta procede Garrincha?

Sadly, the usually immaculate Czech goalkeper Viliam Schrojf, a hero of earlier stages, suffered the indignity of having the worst game of his career in the final.

For this 1974 LP Jobim got together with the immensely popular Elis Regina (1945 – 1982).Known affectionately as furacão (hurricane) or pimentinha (little pepper), Elis sold over 80 million albums. Her premature death sent the whole of Brazil into mourning, and a memorial event at São Paulo’s Estádio do Morumbi attracted 100,000 people.This LP is widely considered to be one of the greatest Brazilian records, and in 2001, Águas de Março was named as the all-time best Brazilian song in a poll of more than 200 journalists, musicians and other artists conducted by leading newspaper, Folha de São Paulo.Elis openly disliked Tom Jobim , referring to him as a bore,dim-witted, and an old fogey whilst they were working on the LP . However the combination did revive her career, and if you view the video of them performing together you would never guess!Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/327921533/Elis___Tom.rar